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(N0 Model.)-

T. G. JOHNSON. TEMPORARY CARTRIDGE CLIP.

No 587,970. Patented Aug. 10,1897.

UNITED STATES PATENT Qrrrcn.

THOMAS C. JOHNSON, OF NE\V HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

TEMPORARY CARTRID G E-CLIP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 587,970, dated August 10, 1897.

Application filed September 28, 1896. Serial No. 607,137. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS (J. J OENSON, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Temporary Cartridge- Clips; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

Figure 1, a view in side elevation of one form which a cartridge-holding clip coni 5 structed in accordance with myinvention may assume, the clip being shown with the eartridges suspended from it as they would be in a packing case or belt; Fig. 2, a plan view of the clip; Fig. 3, an inside perspective view of the clip by itself; Fig. 4, a view of the clip in transverse section on the line a I) of Fig. 1; Fig. 5, an inside perspective view of one of the modified forms which my improved clip may assume; Fig. 6, a view thereof in central longitudinal section; Fig. 7, an inside perspective view of another of the modified forms which my improved clip may assume; Fig. 8, a View thereof in central longitudinal section; Fig. 9, a view showing a natural way of holding the cartridges in the hand preparatory to ripping off the clip and also showingt he looseness of the cartridges in the clip, where by they are permitted to accommodate themselves to the curve of the hand and to assume the right position therein for being rolled into the magazine of a box1nagazine firearm.

My invention relates to an improvement in temporary cartridge-clips for facilitating the convenienthandling of cartridges and for enabling them to be easily and quickly introduced into the magazines of box-magazine firearms, the object being to produce a simple, light, and effective clip, constructed with particular reference to manufacture at a very low cost and to being ripped away from the cartridges preparatory to their introduction into a box-magazine gun with the utmost despatch.

With these ends in view my invention consists in a temporary cartridge-clip of troughlike form having a long flat back or body portion and two corresponding side flanges having their edges turned inward to engage the rims of the cartridges, the body portions of which are exposed for being grasped by the fingers of the hand, and the said clip being also open at its ends, which are furnished with yielding retaining-fingers, and being provided upon the outer face of its back or body portion with a small centrally-arranged integral ripping-off projection and adapted in depth to hold the cartridges loosely.

My invention further consists in certain de tails of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter deseribed,and pointed out in the claims.

In carrying out myinvention, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, at, and S) of the drawings, my improved clip is trough-like in general form, open at its ends, and made from a single piece of comparatively thin sheet metal, and con1- prises a long flat body portion or back A, having rounded ends, side flanges A A, corresponding to each other, extended substantially throughout the length of the said body portion and having their edges turned in-. ward, as at a a, and two pairs of retainingfingers A A formed integral with the ends of the side flanges A A, of which they substantially constitute extensions. The said side flanges A A are provided for engaging with the rims of the cartridges for holding the latter in the clip, which is very shallow and only deep enough to furnish the play or clearance required to permit the cartridges to fall toward each other, as shown in Fig. 1, or to accommodate themselves to the curvature of the slightly-closed hand, as shown in Fig. 6. It is to be particularly observed that when the cartridges are in the clip they are almost entirely exposed for being grasped by the fingers of thehand, only their rims and the outer faces of their head ends being contained within the clip. The said retaining-fingers, it will be observed, are located on opposite sides of the 1011- gitudinal center of the clip, and it is designed that they shall be made long enough to virtually close the open ends thereof when they are bent or flexed toward each other in the plane of the body portion of the clip around the heads of the end cartridges of the row of cartridges contained by the clip, as shown in Figs.

1 and 2. These fingers by being located on opposite sides of the longitudinal center of the clip are placed under such conditions of leverage when the row of cartridges is moved endwise in either direction that they are readily pried apart for the disconnection of the clip from. the cartridges, but at the same time they are stiff enough to retain the cartridges in place in the clip even though the same be thrown about and otherwise roughly handled.

The flat body portion A of the clip is out and outwardly upset midway of its length to form a small loop-like ripping-off projection A upon its outer face. This projection I have chosen to call a ripping-off projection be- 7 cause its function is to provide for ripping off the clip from the heads of the cartridges while they are held in the hand, the projection being engaged with any portion of the arm found most convenientfor such engagement by its user.

. I find it essential to make the ripping-off projection comparatively small and also to arrange it centrally upon the outer face of the back or body portion of the clip, for otherwise the effect of engaging it with a part of the firearm, as required for the operation of rippin g it off from the cartridges which it has held, would be to cook it up at one end and bind and cramp the cartridges and prevent it from being ripped away from them.

I may here say that. the clip is preferably constructed of such width with respect to the diameters of the heads of the cartridges that the same are so loosely held that when they are assembled in it they will readily conform to the curvature of the slightly-closed hand in practically the same mannerthat they would conform to the curvature thereof pre paratory to being manually fed into the boxmagazine without the use of any clip. At the same time the cartridges are held in the clip by sufficient grip to permit it, as aforesaid, to be handled and thrown about as convenience or circumstances may dictate and without any practical danger of their escaping from it. The convenience of assembling a fixed number (say five) of cartridges in a light clip, which is ripped off and thrown away at the moment of loading the cartridges, will be obvious without extended remark.

In Fig. 9 of the drawings five cartridges are shown as mounted in a clip and as grasped in the hand preparatory to having the clip ripped oif.

In the modified construct-ion shown by Figs. 5 and 6 the clip is provided at each of its ends with a pair of retaining-fingers B B, but these fingers instead of projectingbeyond the side flanges B B of the clip and beyond the ends of the body portion B thereof are formed by longitudinally slitting the ends of the inwardly-turned edges of the said side flanges. These fingers are also, as it will be observed, located on opposite sides of the longitudinal center of the clip, and therefore are situated in the mannershown by broken lines in Fig.

6. This clip is also furnished with an integral outwardly-projecting ripping-off projection 13 In the construction shown by Figs. 7and 8 of the drawings the clip is furnished at each end with a spring-finger 0, having its end slightly turned upward, so that when in its normal position it stands above the plane of the flat body portion 0 of the clip, which is also formed with inwardly-turned side flanges O C and with an integral outwardly-projecting. ripping-off projection C In this construction the fingers are elastic and spring outward when the clip is ripped off from the cartridges, after which they spring back into their normal positions again.

It is obvious that still other modifications of my improved clip are open to my usesuch, for instance, as providing the ends of the body portion of the clip with a retaining-wire. I would therefore have it understood that I do not limit myself to the construction herein shown, but hold myself at liberty to make such changes .as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A temporary cartridge-clip, adapted in depth to hold the cartridges loosely, having a long flat back or body portion and two corresponding side flanges having their edges turned inward to engage the rims of the cartridges which are held thereby while their body portions are exposed for being grasped by the fingers of the hand, and the said clip being also open at its ends,which are furnished with yielding cartridge-retaining fingers, and being provided upon the outer face of its back or body portion with a small, centrally-arranged ripping-off projection, substantially as set forth.

2. A temporary cartridge-clip, adapted in depth to hold the cartridges loosely, having a long flat back or body portion and two corresponding side flanges having their edges turned inward to engage the rims of the cartridges which are loosely held thereby while their body portions are exposed for being grasped by the fingers of the hand, and the said clip being also open at its ends which are furnished with yielding cartridge-retaining fingers located on opposite sides of its longi tudinal center, and being provided upon the outer face of its back or body portion with a small, centrally-arranged ripping-off projection, substantiaily as set forth.

3. A temporary cartridge-clip, adapted in depth to hold the cartridges loosely, havinga long flat back or body portion, and two corresponding side flanges having their edges turned inward to engage the rims of the cartridges which are loosely held thereby while their body portions are exposed for being grasped by the fingers of the hand, and the said clip being also open at its ends which are furnished with non-elastic cartridge-retainin g fingers formed integral with its side flanges,

and projecting beyond its ends, and located on opposite sides of the longitudinal center of the clip and adapted to be folded inwardly V in the plane of the body portion of the clip for closing the ends thereof, and the said clip being also provided upon the outer face of its back or body portion with a small, centrallyarranged, ripping off projection, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

THOMAS C. JOHNSON.

Witnesses DANIEL H. VEADER, V. S. BALDWIN. 

